Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas, one & all.

I have just unwrapped the Christmas present that I my gorgeous son has given to me, this year, to find a beautiful box of Tesco www.tesco.com/ Belgian Chocolate Assortment. They are a selection of milk, plain and white Belgian chocolates with assorted centres, suitable for vegetarians. The Christmas present which I have received from my son's foster parents is a wonderful 'Coconut Body Butter', Body Shop www.thebodyshop.co.uk/

product. In addition to these Christmas presents, is my Elton John, New Year's Eve Party at The o2 www.theo2.co.uk/ A party which I have been led to believe, that will also feature Will Young. This Christmas present is one which I have personally chosen for myself, unbeknown to my dear friend Birgit, who gave me carte blanche authority to choose.

With the thought in mind that the close of year 2008 is just seven days away, I have been musing on what I would consider to be the most outstanding thing for me during this eventful year? - Excluding my son, mother, friends, my support team, my clients and colleagues... After careful consideration, I have concluded that, this year, I was most profoundly moved by volunteering, as someone born with the STEWART surname, to proform the service of an Usher for the LGCM - Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement www.lgcm.org.uk at St. Botolph's Church in Aldgate www.stbotolphs.org.uk

Whilst I do not really see myself as the Virginia Woolf 'Orlando' www.video.aol.com/video-detail/orlando-by-sally-potter/836251221 character, even as portray in the film www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_(film) 'Orlando' www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFMmMh288pE

and www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFu5TYQvQRE by Sally Potter. I do however see my role in taking an active part as an Usher, in the LGCM - Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, Carol Service at St. Botolph's Church in Aldgate, on Sunday 14th December 2008 as a 'Out' Gay Woman, as a significent departure from any other member of my protestant Stewart relatives, past or present. Although I may not discover if my action on this occasion, as a named Stewart, may or may not update the - in some quarters - widely held, and unhelpful homophobic interpretation of the King James Version of the Bible by James VI of Scotland, I of England. I say this, as I have already mentioned in previous posts this year, that King James I, who had himself been involved in meaningful same-sex relationships, may not have been able in his time, to come 'Out' as a Bisexual or Gay man.